Exercise is an important element of daily human life that must followed for a healthy life. But nowadays, we observe that office and corporate life has become highly sedentary, which in turn results in a lot less activity than someone involved in some form of manual labour.
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We are becoming more and more lazy, leading unhealthy lifestyles, eating junk food and skipping regular meals. This habit will inadvertently lead to health problems in the later stages of life. This brings us to the utter importance of sports and games and other outdoor activities.
A brief premise
Games and sports were first believed to be introduced when man became bored of regular activities and began searching for methods to increase productivity as well entertain himself.
This lead to the creation of certain competitive events in which men or women participated and competed against each other in completing certain tasks. The modern day sports and game that we see are a culmination of this spirit itself.
The origin of sports can be traced in China in as early as 2000 BC. Egyptian scripts also indicate the pharaohs holding games and competitions to entertain the general public. These included fishing, swimming and other such outdoor sports.
Sports and games took a major place in Greek and Roman culture. The Greeks were especially known to hold major sports meet every 4 years, in the small village of Olympia. This meet is what we now know as the Olympics.
As man become more industrious and manual labour began to get replaced by various forms of machines and devices, his leisure time increased which facilitated more time to be put in the recreational activities. Also, these games and sport events helped maintain a spirit of friendly competition and peace in the kingdoms.
Current Significance
Sports and games have taken an important place in our lives. We all have one or the other sport that we love, be it cricket, football, hockey or indoor games like table tennis, Chess etc. etc.
Sports persons are given celebrity status, much like movie stars and other important personalities. In India, though hockey is our national sport, Indians bleed blue for cricket. Cricket is one of the most influential sports for an Indian, ever since his childhood to his adult years.
Football is slowly gaining prominence with the major celebrities like film stars endorsing it to improve its popularity. India is also home to the world’s best chess player, Viswanathan Anand.
Being a country of such a large population and extensive cultural diversity, the number of sports played is equally large. Games are also played virtually, in the form of video games. Video game has become a major industry in today’s world.
Every year more and more games are developed and sold. These games range from action, adventure to virtual reality and also, sports. The football game FIFA is one of the most popular video games to exist.
But unlike outdoor sports and activities, playing video games hardly involves any physical activity, which again is a harmful habit. People spend hours and hours at end playing video games, adversely affecting their health.
Games like football, tennis, cricket, table tennis etc. need to be played which exerts the body, providing the much needed exercise as well as being competitive and entertaining.
The sedentary lifestyle we are currently leading will surely cause negative effects on health, like increased chances of heart disease, obesity etc.
We usually observe that the people from previous generations, like our grandparents tend to be more healthy and active than some people of much younger age. This can ultimately be linked to the lifestyle our grandparents used to lead back in their days.
They must’ve been involved in some form of outdoor activity, eaten home cooked healthy meals and had a good night’s rest. In today’s age, amidst the stress and pressure filled nature of our jobs, we barely get time to eat or sleep, let alone for sports or physical activity.
Thus, it is up to us, to find time from our busy schedule, to involve in a regular game of tennis at the club, or a game of football with friends or any such activity which will help us lead a healthy, active life
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